Famous names in Welsh music will disappear from the playlists of Radio Cymru today with artists locked in the latest stage of a long-running dispute with the broadcaster.

Famous names in Welsh music will disappear from the playlists of Radio Cymru today with artists locked in the latest stage of a long-running dispute with the broadcaster.

A total of 331 composers and publishers, including Meic Stevens, Elin Fflur and Caryl Parry Jones, are members of a new broadcasting rights agency that is fighting for better royalties for the artists.

Under the BBC’s contingency plans, daily output on the Welsh language station will be reduced by two hours, with the daytime music repertoire expanded to include popular classical and instrumental music, as well as a number of English language and international artists.

The C2 evening programmes which showcase new Welsh music will be cut to an hour. The station will begin broadcasting an hour later in the morning, at 6.30am, and finish broadcasting one hour earlier at 11pm.

The artists transferred their broadcasting rights from PRS, a 95,000-member organisation, to new agency Eos following a half-decade campaign against reduced royalties.

Eos stated that subsequent negotiations to secure a license to use the music from January 1 onwards had failed to secure a deal.

Gwilym Morus, chair of Eos, said: “It’s a shame that the BBC have chosen to damage the national radio service because they are unwilling to pay a fair price for Welsh music. The failure to come to a reasonable agreement with Eos means that some programmes have been cancelled while others have been cut back.

“We ask the BBC in London to protect Radio Cymru, and to ensure the future of BBC jobs in Wales. The last thing we want is to see any more harm done to Radio Cymru – our audience is the BBC audience.

“These decisions by the corporation bosses are going to have a negative impact on that audience. Regretfully, I believe the BBC in London is showing a lack of respect towards their own staff in Wales and towards Welsh culture.

“We ask them to reconsider their current approach so as to avoid causing any long term damage to Radio Cymru.”

Eos claims that since 2007 the share of the fees paid by the BBC to the PRS for Welsh language music has fallen from 3% – understood to be around £1.5m – to 0.5%.

Eos claims it is unlikely to back down because “PRS royalty payments to their members have been so low recently they have very little to lose”.

A BBCspokeswoman said: “Like Eos, we’re very disappointed that we’ve not yet been able to reach an agreement. It is also disappointing that Radio Cymru programming will be now be affected by the dispute and we’ll obviously do everything possible to minimise the impact on the daily service we provide to thousands of listeners across Wales.

“Radio Cymru’s commitment to support and develop Welsh music is a longstanding one – and we have listened carefully to the concerns of Welsh language composers and artists during this dispute. Both the BBC and Eos want to ensure that a fair outcome is achieved – and it is a fair outcome for all parties that we will be focusing on when further talks with Eos take place next week.”

A Welsh Government spokesman said: “We hope both sides reach an agreement as soon as possible.”

North Wales Plaid Cymru MP Llyr Huws Gruffydd said: “This is a disaster for Radio Cymru. It also speaks volumes about the patronising attitude of the BBC in London towards Welsh language culture.

“The musicians have seen their income decimated by the new rates while the BBC hands out half a million to its former Director General without blinking an eyelid.”

Eos expects “public pressure” will resolve the situation.

The agency stated: “[Last] September the majority of the industry in Wales saw fit to take matters into their own hands by taking back their broadcasting rights so as to negotiate directly with UK broadcasters. Since then, the BBC have so far failed to come to an agreement with Eos, leaving many with the feeling that the BBC is intentionally trying to undermine the new agency and keep royalty payments artificially low.”

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